Recent Developments in USAF Officer Testing and Selection

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Recent Developments in USAF Officer Testing and
Selection

• Johnny J. Weissmuller, Kenneth L. Schwartz, and
• Stanley D. Kenney USAF Military Testing
• Randolph AFB, Texas USA
• C. Wayne Shore and R. Bruce Gould Operational
  Technologies (OpTech)
• San Antonio, Texas USA

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Testing in the USAF

• Education Training Applications
• To increase
• Individual Competency
• Operational Cooperation
• Mission Coordination
• Operational Readiness

• Personnel Selection Promotion Applications
• To manage
• Acceptance into Service
• Promotion in Pay Grade
• Increase in Authority
• Personnel Management

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USAF MILITARY TESTING SectionHQ USAF Personnel
Center

• Manage the USAF program for personnel tests for
  selection and promotion
• Recommend test research
• Evaluate new technologies
• Validate new/proposed tests
• Establish operational testing policy
• Coordinate Test Control Officer network

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USAF MILITARY TESTING SectionTypes of Tests
Managed

• USAF Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT all
  officer, pilots, and navigators)
• All USAF Enlisted Promotion Tests
• Promotion Fitness Exam (PFE)
• USAF Supervisory Exam (USAFSE)
• 130 Specialty Knowledge Tests (SKTs)
• Special selection tests (programmers, etc.)
• DoD controlled tests Armed Services Vocational
  Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and Foreign Language
  Aptitude Certification Tests

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USAF MILITARY TESTING Section Coordination
Cooperation

• US Navy
• AFOQT reference testing for new automated Navy
  pilot selection test
• Internet survey tool sharing with Navy of USAF
  job survey tool for use in pilot/nav job analysis
• Interservice Enlisted Testing Promotion Working
  Group (Army, AF, Navy, Coast Guard)
• Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) Automated
  Selection Tool for Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs)
• NASA AFOQT screening for all astronaut
  applicants

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US Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT)

• Forms of this test have been in use since the
  1950s
• The current operational form, Form Q, has been in
  use 10 years (1994)
• A 4-year research effort just finished (using
  Research Form R) by OpTech
• Results a shorter, equally powerful version S
  was constructed and augmented to include a Big
  Five personality inventory (SDI)

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US Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT)

• Previously maintained by the Air Force Human
  Resources Laboratory (AFHRL), its predecessors
  successors until 1999
• New version motivated by need for faster, better,
  less expensive form
• Form S can be administered in 3½ hours instead of
  4½ hours (under ½ day)
• Includes benchmark and research subtests for
  future applications
• Form S will be scored using new scanner equipment
  greatly increasing throughput with no loss in
  accuracy.

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The US Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT)

• A complete listing of the subtests in Version Q
  and Version S are given in the paper. The paper
  will be in the proceedings and is currently
  available at
• http//www.icodap.org/041025
• In summary, 16 subtests were used in Form Q.
  These 16 subtests are combined to create FIVE (5)
  composites.

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AFOQT Summary

• The five composites are
• Pilot
• Navigator
• Academic
• Verbal
• Quantitative

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AFOQT Form S Summary

• Reduced subtests from 3 to 2 per factor dimension
  examples
• Verbal composites
• Form Q
• VA Verbal Analogies
• RC Reading Comprehension
• WK Word Knowledge
• Form S
• VA Verbal Analogies
• WK Word Knowledge

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AFOQT Form S Summary

• Reduced subtests from 3 to 2 per factor dimension
  examples
• Quantitative composite
• Form Q
• AR Arithmetic Reasoning
• DI Data Interpretation
• MK Math Knowledge
• Form S
• AR Arithmetic Reasoning
• MK Math Knowledge

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AFOQT Form S Summary

• The Pilot and Navigator composites used eight (8)
  and eleven (11) subtests in Version Q
• In Form S, the Pilot and Navigator composites
  will now use five (5) and six (6) subtests

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AFOQT Form S Summary

• After validation to training outcomes in
  undergraduate flying training (UFT), the pilot
  composite is now computed from five (5) subtests
• AR Arithmetic Reasoning
• MK Math Knowledge
• IC Instrument Comprehension
• TR Table Reading
• AI Aviation Information

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AFOQT Form S Summary

• The subtests dropped from the pilot composite
  are
• VA Verbal Analogies
• MC Mechanical Comprehension
• EM Electrical Maze
• SR Scale Reading
• BC Block Counting

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AFOQT Form S Summary

• The navigator composite is now computed from six
  (6) subtests
• VA Verbal Analogies
• AR Arithmetic Reasoning
• MK Math Knowledge
• BC Block Counting
• TR Table Reading
• GS General Science

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AFOQT Form S Summary

• The subtests dropped from the navigator composite
  are
• RC Reading Comprehension
• DI Data Interpretation
• MC Mechanical Comprehension
• EM Electrical Maze
• SR Scale Reading
• RB Rotated Blocks
• HF Hidden Figures

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AFOQT Form S Summary Experimental Tests

• 20 candidates selected 3
• Big Five factors of
• Personality
• Service Orientation
• Team Orientation

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AFOQT Form S Summary Big Five Factors of
Personality

• Discovered by USAF in 1950s at Lackland AFB, 25
  miles from HQ AFPC
• Early factor analysis studies by Tupes Christal
• Adopted and disseminated in private sector
• In 1990s USAF reevaluated, researched, validated
  on officer and enlisted force coordinated
  research with the University of Plymouth, UK
• Developed the Self-Description Inventory or SDI
  for operational use in Form S

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AFOQT Form S Summary Self-Description Inventory

• 220 items include Big Five plus new dimensions
  for Service Orientation (SO) and Team Orientation
  (TO)
• Big Five contains (OCE AN)
• Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Extroversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism

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AFOQT Form S Summary Research SubTests

• The following subtests are collected and scored,
  but are NOT currently used in any selection
  decisions
• Rotated Blocks
• Hidden Figures
• Self-Description Inventory
• Future use of these data are expected in
  long-term validations.

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Use of Personality Tests

• The problem test compromise unidimensional
  tests compromised by strategy leaks in under 2
  minutes
• The Big Five approach
• Multiple dimensions
• More is NOT better (neuroticism or too much
  openness)
• Multiple uses/multiple profiles

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Use of Personality Tests

• Possible uses
• Selection (obvious but unlikely)
• Assignments
• Best match to position for productivity
• Lessen personal stress in jobs requiring
  technical development
• Lessen organizational stress in accepting new
  managerial individuals
• Best match to position for personal development
  or broadening
• Predicting retention

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• Questions?